Financing Transatlantic Transmedia Projects

[1]The Canada Media Fund[1] (CMF) and Wallimage[2] (Wallonia, Belgium) have announced today a financing package of CAN$600,000 for three coproductions under the Canada-Wallonia Incentive for Digital Media Multiplatform projects. The two organizations have each contributed an equal share in the total funding. Three Walloon production companies will work with three Canadian companies to create two new innovative multiplatform projects in development and one project in production financed through the incentive program established in November 2014.

Work in Progress – tout salaire mérite-t-il travail (does every salary deserve work)? (in development) is a reflection on the phenomenon of work presented through a sophisticated and innovative transmedia device that blurs the lines between documentary and fiction.

The second project, Kinshasa Now (in development), is a transmedia story designed to sensitize students to the tragic reality of the 30,000 children accused of witchcraft and abandoned to their own devices to survive on the streets of Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

URBANCE (in production) describes a playful and evolving universe in a narrative where men and women live apart in a post-modern urban environment divided in two. The user is immersed in a world of continuous improvement thanks to a number of complementary support functions.

“We are pleased with the positive results of the financial partnership between the CMF and Belgium’s Wallimage,” said CMF President and CEO Valerie Creighton. “We are part of an evolving world of audiovisual content creation where geographical boundaries are rapidly disappearing. These productions demonstrate the potential of what we can accomplish in the digital media field when we work with other countries. We are delighted to support these three productions and we look forward to audiences in Canada, Wallonia and beyond being able to appreciate the combined creativity of these talented producers.”

“While Wallonia has a longstanding tradition of audiovisual coproduction, setting up a source of funding operating on both sides of the Atlantic represented a challenge for us on an unprecedented scale,” said Wallimage director Philippe Reynaert. “But thanks to the solid experience and openness of the Canada Media Fund management team, this wonderful initiative was made possible and today we can see the results. Of course, encouraging Canadian and Walloon producers to cooperate on transmedia projects was anything but obvious! So we are all immensely pleased with a first call for projects crowned with three such outstanding and innovative features.”